A new report published on Tuesday (9 September) points to an increasing climate of secrecy within government.<\/p>\n
The Right2Know Campaign released its 2014 \u2018Secret State of the Nation\u2019 report. It noted that only 16% of requests by civil society organisations under the Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) resulted in full release of information in 2012\/2013.<\/p>\n
This was down from 22% in 2010\/2011, and 35% in 2008\/2009.<\/p>\n
“There is too little proactive release of information,” Right2Know said.<\/p>\n
Right2Know said that PAIA enables any person to request records from a public body and get a response within 30 days.<\/p>\n
Citing research conducted by the PAIA Civil Society Network, Right2Know said that in over 250 requests submitted between August 2012 and July 2013, 54% were met with silence, while 62% of requests that were under \u2018internal appeal\u2019, did not get a
\nresponse in the 30 days required by law.<\/p>\n
In 2013, theProtection of Personal Information Act (Popi) amended PAIA to make provision for an Information Regulator, which will act as an ombud with legal powers to force compliance with information requests.<\/p>\n
“Though the office of the Information Regulator has not yet been established, it is hoped that this will strengthen transparency,” Right2Know said.<\/p>\n
Additional finding revealed signs of abuse of secrecy and continued securitisation of some parts of the state including:<\/p>\n
Right2Know said it is worth noting that the report has been hampered by lack of access to information; many of the metrics of secrecy, which would help inform a public debate on these issues, remain secret.<\/p>\n
Is South Africa economically sustainable?<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n South Africa\u2019s ICT fears becoming reality: DA<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n